Desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis cremnobates), a domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), and Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were used as bait animals to collect blood-feeding flies in an area of active bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus transmission. Precipitin tests were used to confirm the blood source where feasible. Eight species of Culicoides, members of the Leptoconops kerteszi group, Simulium spp., Anopheles franciscanus, and Stomoxys calcitrans were collected from the bighorn sheep. Feeding on the bighorn sheep by Culicoides brookmani (n = 25), C. variipennis (n = 6), C. cacticola (n = 1), and Simulium spp. (n = 3) was confirmed by precipitin testing. Primary species attacking the rabbit were C. brookmani, C. variipennis, and the L. kerteszi group. The quail were attacked primarily by members of the C. copiosus group and the L. kerteszi group.
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1 July 1992
Insects Feeding on Desert Bighorn Sheep, Domestic Rabbits, and Japanese Quail in the Santa Rosa Mountains of Southern California
Bradley A. Mullens,
Coralie E. Dada
Journal of Wildlife Diseases
Vol. 28 • No. 3
July 1992
Vol. 28 • No. 3
July 1992
blood feeding
bluetongue
Culicoides sp.
Diptera
epizootic hemorrhagic disease
host preference
Insecta